Gun-sight



Patengted Mar. 10, 1891..

' w. LY MAN.

GUN SIGHT (No-Model.)

a ma PETERS co mum-inns vusmum'on o c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 1

lVILLIAM LYMAN, OF MIDDLEFIELD, CONNECTICUT.

GUN-SIGHT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,886, dated March 10, 1891,

Application filed December 8, 1890. Serial No. 373,980. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, W ILLIAM LYMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Middlefield, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sights for Fire-Arms, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to sights for fire-arms, and has for its object to provide a combina tion of sights for shotguns adapted to permit easy and rapid sighting andinsu re accurate aim without the use of sight-apertures, notches, or rear sighting devices which in any measure restrict the field of vision. A perforated or notched sight, though admitting of accuracy in sighting, involves the exercise of care and skill in obtaining a range through it and obscures a portion of the field of vision.

It is the purpose of my improvement to obviate these disadvantages; and to this end the invention consists i11'-"the novel arrange ment and combination, with an ordinary front r muzzle sight, of a corresponding rear sight placed intermediate of themuzzle and breech of the barrel, about midway between the front sight and position of the eye in sighting, the said rear sight being of ivoryor similarly-reflective material and arranged wholly below the line of sight' and between vertical sight-planes extended from the sighting-point to the sides or longitudinal outlines of the front sight, all as hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 shows an ordinary shotgunin side elevation fitted with my improved sights, and Fig. 2 is a plan view of the barrels and sights shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a plan View of the sights, with straight lines representing the lines of vision andillustrating the relative sizes and arrangement of the respective sights. breech view of the gun,showing the sights as they appear in the act of aiming. Fig. 5 is a side elevation (broken) of a rifle-barrel provided with mysystem of sights, and Fig.6 is an end view of the samep' Fig. 7 is a rear view of a gun-barrel fitted with a rear notched sight, and Fig. 8 shows a mode of attaching my improved sight to a gun-barrel.

Referring to the drawings,A designates an Ordinary spherical front or muzzle sight se- Fig.- 4; is a rear or cured in the rib B between the barrels C of the shotgun D, near their muzzles or front ends. Said sight is of old and well-known construction and described in Letters Patent No. 366,121, granted to me July 5, 1887; but it is the form of sight preferably employed in the novel combination of sighting devices herein described and claimed.

E in the drawings designates a point which denotes the approximate position of the eye during the act of aiming, and may be here calledthesighting-point. Aboutmidwaybetween the said sighting-point-E and the front sight A is arranged a similar but smaller sightfisecured in the rib B in the same manner as the said front sight, which mode of fastening is shown in Fig. 8, and consists in inserting the ivory sight-piece in a metal sleeve, which is then firmly driven into a suitable hole in the rib or barrel; but for the purposes of my invention any other method of attaching the sight may be adopted, if desired. The sightf is of such diameter or width that it is included between the two lines of, sight g 9, extending and diverging from the point E to the respective sides h h of the front sight A, as shown in Fig. 3. The said sight f may be proportioned to exactly fillthe space between the said lines g at that point, but should not exceed it, and is preferably made smaller, so that the sides of the front sight may be readily seen past it. Thus, when the:

two sights f and A are viewed with the eye at the position E and in a horizontal plane with both sights, the lines of sight which pass by the sides of the front sight A will include f is placed vertically under said plane a: in

such relation to it that its upper surface is substantially or nearly on or slightly below a line drawn from the sighting-point E to the. base of the sightA, as shown by line y in Fig.

ICC

1, and a line .2, touching the tops of both sights, will fall beneath the point E near the plane of the top of the rib B at the breech, and then when the gun is properly aimed the sight f will appear vertically under the sight A, precisely as shown in Fig. 4, or with a slight horizontal space between them, as shown in Fig- 6, the front sight also appearing either of the same size as the rear sight or larger and showing the mostprominently of the two.

In operation the particular results obtained by this peculiar combination and arrangement of sights are as follows: As the sigh s appear to the eye, one vertically over the other and each in plain view at all times, their alignment can be readily determined, the least horizontal departure from correct aim appearing very conspicuously by their resultant apparent inclination from a vertical plane, and any error of elevation being marked by the disappearance or enlargement of the horizontal line which separates them vertically. The eye is not confined or required to seek a certain position at the breech before aiming; but at the first glance the sights appear in full View, and it is then an easy and rapid act to turn the barrel in the direction necessary to lessen the divergence of the sights from the relation they should occupy when the gun is in alignment with the mark. Thus after a little practice the sights fall into line naturally and without effort as the gun-barrel is swept over the field of vision, and finally the aiming is accomplish ed almost unconsciously. By arranging the sights to appear with a slight horizontal space between them as viewed from the sighting-point of minimum range their complete independence is preserved, and the increase of the dimensions of such space due to elevating the muzzle for longer range will approximately measure the elevation and range. Bot-h sights are preferably made of white or correspondingly-reflective material, and the front sight being outlined against the field of vision and the other against the dark background of the gun barrel or rib they are rendered very distinguishable.

It will be seen that the rear sight is outlined entirely against the gun rib or barrel as a background and does not project into or in any Way obscure the field of vision. This is a highly-important feature in shotguns, the exigencies of field sport calling for an unobstructed view and rapid aim. A notched rear sight insures accuracy in sighting; but the eye requires to be brought close to it and in a confined position before the front sight can be brought into line, whereas with my improvement the eye, rear, and front sights are simultaneously and naturally brought into proper position and alignment without effort; also, when the eye is placed close to an ordinary notched sight of the class shown in Fig. 7 the sight covers a large portion of the field of vision, as illustrated by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, the obscured area increasing in proportion as the sight is placed near the sighting-poii'it, and the sides of the notch will appear blurred. These effects are also more or less true of simple barsights, all, in fact, obstructing the field of vision to a certain extent.

With my improvement no obstruction of the field of vision can take place, as the rear sight appears wholly against the background of the barrel, and the said rear sight is at such distance from the eye that little, if any, blurring will take place.

The improvement is very effective when used upon sporting-pieces, but may also be used to advantage upon all classes of firearms, Figs. 5 and (3 showing the adaptation of this combination of sights to a rifie, the sights only being raised a little higher on bases or mountings 1) than in the case of the shotgun and the front sight being set in a broad base to provide a suitable background for the rear sight.

I clain l. The combination, with the frontor muzzle sight of agun, of a smaller barrel sight, stud, or head arranged intermediate of the front sight and sighting point or position of the eye in aiming and between or within the diverging lines or planes'of sight extending from the said sighting-point to the sides or cross-sectional outlines of the front sight, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, with the front ormuzzle sight of a gun, of a smaller barrel sight, stud, or bead wholly of ivory or corresponding reflective material, ,arranged intermediate of the front sight and sighting point or position of the eye in aiming and between or within the diverging lines or planes of sight extending from the sighting-point to the sides or cross-sectional outlines of the front sight, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the front or muzzle sight of a gun, of a smaller barrel sight, stud, or bead arranged intermediate of the front sight and sighting point or position of the eye in aiming and under the line of sight between vertical planes extending from the said sighting-point to the sides or lateral outlines of the front sight, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

at. In sights for shotguns, the combination of the spherical front sight or bead, of ivory or corresponding reflective material, and a similar smaller rear sight arranged intermediate of the front sight and sighting point or position of the eye in aiming between vertical planes extending from the said sightingpoint to the sides of the front sight and under a line extending from the sighting-point to the base of the front sight, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

WILLIAM LYMAN. Witnesses:

R. M. HOOKER, E. H. HUNN. 

